Elements of a Link to the Past

March 2nd, 2010 by Mases

A Link to the Past Artwork There were many elements in a Link to the Past that seemed unique at the time, of which many have made their transition nicely to 3d Zelda titles and more modern handheld titles. However, there are still numerous things that haven’t quite made the jump and zsaberlink has created an interesting blog discussing some of the great things about a Link to the Past that he hopes to see make a return in the future. He touches upon the idea of unique dungeons with multiple access points, inventory items that are completely optional, and different ways to defeating enemies outside the standard sword slashing. He makes some great points and I highly suggest checking out his blog.

“I personally find these optional weapons as much better rewards and incentives to complete a side-quest/mini-dungeon than a single heart piece or a large quiver/bomb bag. This also encourages exploring the overworld, which would really add to the adventure experience that the series has always tried to provide.”

I cannot agree anymore with this guy. Too many times in recent games such as Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, or Spirit Tracks, I found myself entrenched into an interesting mini-game or a secret cave in the overworld, only to find that the end result is some lousy rupees or a random piece of a treasure. Even worse the mindless quiver and bomb bag upgrades. I don’t think I’ve ever had a shortage of either bombs or arrows in Twilight Princess, so why do they insist on offering me a quiver upgrade that holds 100 arrows? Are we really abusing our arrows so much that we need 100 of them? I really wouldn’t mind these upgrades… if they had other collectible items that were interesting. Twilight Princess didn’t really have this at all. In fact, off the top of my head the only real ‘optional’ items I can think of from Twilight Princess are the Magic Armor and the Hawkeye. Hardly two things that I was excited with joy to use.

Unlike Twilight Princess, a Link to the Past actually did have these types of items. The Bombos Medallion is one of them and it was just absolutely amazing. It wasn’t required in order to complete your quest, but once you got, not only does it look sweet, but it is very useful in many parts of the game. Similarly there was the Cane of Byrna found deep within a cave in the Dark World on top of Death Mountain. It was not glaringly obvious as to where you had to go and that extra empty spot in your inventory really encouraged you to go searching throughout the overworld for that last item. The item didn’t have an exact purpose, but it was sweet enough where you can use it wherever you really wanted. Certain enemies or bosses are much easier to defeat when using the particular item. Overall, these extra items are what really give the game some extra life and replay value, and they are partially why I view a Link to the Past in such high regards.

So what did you guys think of the article? Do you think Zelda needs more unique dungeon experiences like that of Skull Woods and Gargoyles Domain? Does it need interesting optional items out there like the Cane of Byrna and Bombs Medallion? Wouldn’t it be a breath of fresh air if more unique enemies were out there instead of the standard enemies that are crushed with a single slash of the sword? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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wes

Sure a Link to the Past had those things, but Twilight Princess had lots of awesome stuff too
zelda1947

I agree wes, like the double claw, a canon, and so forth. I think each game has it own surprises,

http://intensedebate.com/people/Mases Mases

The Double Clawshot was a great item. I was referring to optional items. I thought in A Link to the Past the Hookshot, Fire Rod, Ether, and Quake were all awesome items as well. They were all brand new at the time but they were all part of the actual quest. You had to get them in order to go through the game. Just like the Double Clawshot from Twilight Princess.

The additionally optional items in Twilight Princess don't compare in my opinion to the ones in A Link to the Past. TP did a lot of things pretty good, but the diversity of items was not one of them in my opinion.

ZSaberLink

Hey it's me ZSaberLink, the author of the editorial blog post. Thanks so much for posting it on the site. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The canon was cool, but it was just to go up to City of the Sky right? Or could you actually carry one around or something? The Double Clawshot was a great item and I hope they keep it, but that was a dungeon item after all (as it made sense to be), not something extra/optional.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Mases Mases

Thanks for making such a good article! I checked out your blog and saw several more Zelda articles prior to this one. I just never found them before, but this last one got posted elsewhere at GoNintendo so I saw it. You can e-mail me at mases26@gmail.com if you ever post a Zelda related article. As long as its pretty interesting I'll almost certainly post it. Thanks!
Zelda FAAAAN!!!

I enjoyed TP! especially the double claw shot. I really hope they keep it in. What I liked about TP was it reminded me of OoT!

Link

I was also reminded of OoT when I played TP(or in my case, the other way around since I played TP first).
Tailskirby6

That, in my opinion, was kind of why I didn't like parts of TP. I liked that the game world was similar to that in OoT. The problem for me was that it was mirrored. I called it "false nostalgia" as a way of saying: "It's like I remember it, but then they had to turn it around and make me sad. ".

ZSaberLink

Yeh I decided to submit the most recent one to Gonintendo and RMC was kind enough to post it up there. It's good to see that the article has gotten around that way. Thanks for the kind offer to let me submit Zelda articles to your site, and I'll be sure to submit an article to you if it's Zelda-related! Posting fan-community articles is a great way of having more ideas to discuss on a Zelda page, especially when there are large droughts of information on Zelda games. You came up with a great idea there. Thanks again.
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Ryan

I always liked the magic wand from the very first Zelda game. It was as powerful as white sword and you could hit enemies on the opposite side of the screen. It was cool that you could give it an upgrade by getting the magic book, which put a flame on the end of the attack. I remember it couldn't harm the darknuts or wizzrobe's, but other than that I used it as much as the sword if not more. They had the dominion rod in Twilight Princess which is a magic wand, but it was used a totally different way, although it was very cool and original in it's own right. I agree that it would be cool to get a major weapon or item on a side quest and not just a dungeon. To be fair, I didn't really ever use the bombos medallion or the other medallions other than when you had to use them in a certain spot to advance in A Link to the Past. They looked cool, but there were mostly useless.

Makarthekorokwarrior

I agree that the 2-d games generally had better optional item varieties. Even the most recent 2-d Zelda, the minish cap, had several: the light arrows, boomerang, magical boomerang, remote bombs, and mirror shield. No 3-d Zelda game to date, although if you look at the optional items from several, they may be great (i loved Wind Waker's magic armor and Hero's charm) has achieved what the previous 2-d games have. I hope this is something that the Zelda wii game will fix.

Kiryadin

I agree that the quiver and bomb upgrades sometimes seem useless to me, but that has been in every zelda game I played since a link to the past. There was this upgrade fairy where you could have yourself equip more bombs and arrows, but even with the beginning maxs I would be rarely out of bombs or arrows because they were found or received after battling enemies a lot.

What I also liked about the first Legend Of Zelda, was that there were dungeons with multiple treasures, also with optional ones, like for example the Magic Key and the Magic book or even the red tunic. Did they ever do that in the newer titles or not? (I have not yet played any Zelda after Majora's Mask)

It would be really cool if some of those LTTP weapons and item would return. Bottomless pits however were present in OOT and MM (you could count the air of the inverted stone tower as bottomless pitts).
Link

OoT had a fair amount of extra items. Such as the ice arows(I beat the whole game without them), the bigoron sword, most of the grate fairies were optional, and the masks, the gold spider tokens, the stone of agony, and I dont remember a point when the fire arows were needed to continue with the story(if I'm wrong tell me below). So that makes a fair amount of optional items.
light dark ice

you need fire arrows in shadow temple
Muffledpancakes

I think the only reason you guys think that a link to the past was so good is because it was the first time you had experienced something like that. My first zelda game was twilight princess and that stunned me, so you really are asking a quite a bit of nintendo. Apparently a second twilight princess instalement is under way so you could always write and request it. You never know! Btw caleb u rock!
http://twitter.com/_Redstone @_Redstone

Actually, I found the quiver and bomb upgrades nigh essential when going for a no-healing+no-armor run of the Cave of Ordeals in TP- no way some of those later fights were winnable without them, so I don't mind inventory upgrades- so long as, of course, they're not the greatest thing you can find in the game. I'm on board with making our 3D games hold at least as many secrets as LttP- a feat that oddly has yet to be truly replicated in any Zelda so far. Upgrades are great prizes, but they shouldn't be the only prizes.

Conversely, I don't want way too many optional items. The idea of something being optional is that you can go without it, so if something is optional, it's likely not going to be particularly exciting to get- the boomerangs in the GB games were powerful but underwhelming in usefulness, the Magic Cape more or less saved you a few hearts in a dungeon or two, at the expense of draining magic like nobody's business, and the magic spells were rarely as reliable as swording at stuff. Unless the world has a bevy of compelling reasons to use an optional item, it's not necessarily a good idea to shoehorn it in (or remove a classic item's functionality from the main quest, as I pointed out in my comments for the Flying Fisch Zelda Wii expectations post.
Joe R

I would like to see just a few optional items. LTTP was good with that. The items could be used as a way to complete other optional sidequests or to make something easier. My main problem is that if the only point of getting optional items is to use it maybe once or twice in a dungeon for convenience sake, then it is worthless. The medallions are a good example, some can be used, but are optional. Most of the time, they're too much of a hassle, or much easier to defeat with another weapon. This is why I've never worn magic armor in any zelda games. Some optional items are too much of a hassle. I would like to see some optional items: But only for sidequest purposes.
ByrneRocks!

I agree one hundred percent with what u say, i remember that i always used to go back into games like TP and OoT and just wander around the overworld looking for secrets. They could do something cool like having a secret dungeon like the color dungeon in LA, or having a secret weapon at the end of the pit of 50 trials in TP, which would be cool, or get them by doing side quests like in the WW with the magic charm. Whatever happens i hope they put something secret in Zelda Wii
corey

I could not agree more you touched on one of the many reasons I have for making A Link to the Past my official favorite game in the series. More option items please! And making a fake version of the extra item AKA the Giants Knife is sweet too. One of the few "new twists" on an older theme that OoT did well!

-Core88
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